Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has captured a man overseeing the terrorist group PKK’s supply transfers between Türkiye and neighboring Iraq, said Turkish security sources on Tuesday.
Authorities said Engin B., who had been wanted for a long time and faced charges in five separate investigations, was funneling funds from the EU grant program to the group via the Migration Monitoring Center, and he had a “close” relation with the PKK’s so-called senior members.
He was caught while trying to fly to Iraq from Istanbul Airport, authorities said.
Engin B. was leading PKK activities in the southeastern Diyarbakır province, determining positioning and facilitating communication via live mailboxes that would not be decoded by security forces.
He worked to garner public support for the PKK but never attended any PKK activity himself in order to avoid exposure.
According to intelligence reports, he accepted exorbitant sums from the European Union’s Migration Monitoring Center, which was then passed on to families who had ties to the PKK and convicted members.
He was also trained in Iraq and shared his knowledge with PKK members in Türkiye.
Istanbul’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said it continues investigating the case.
Meanwhile in northern Syria – where the PKK is active through its local offshoot, the YPG – Turkish armed forces eliminated two more terrorists, the National Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
The terrorists were plotting an attack in the Operation Peace Spring zone, the ministry said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the U.S., Britain and the European Union. It launched a campaign of violence in southeastern Türkiye in 1984, and over 40,000 people were killed as a result.
The group, battered and demoralized by Turkish security forces’ successful operations, has been, in recent years, losing members and failing to attract recruits, according to Turkish officials.
According to authorities, less than 200 PKK terrorists remain in Turkish territories, while others are confined to Iraq and Syria. The southeastern region of Türkiye, plagued with terrorism for decades, regained a sense of normalcy, which is evident through flourishing tourism and other activities in the mountains once used as hideouts by terrorists.
The group is now restrained mainly in the northern parts of Iraq and Syria, right across the Turkish border, where they plan or stage attacks on both locals and security forces or settlements in Türkiye.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations – Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019) – across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents.
Counterterrorism operations were intensified both at home and in Iraq and Syria after the PKK claimed a suicide attack outside the Turkish National Police headquarters in Ankara earlier this month in which one PKK terrorist blew himself up, and another would-be bomber was killed in a shootout with police resulting in two police officers being wounded.
